Meat cure and method of manufacturing the same



Feb. 17, 1931. E. H. WRIGHT MEAT CURE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THESAME Filed Dec. 9, 1927 LIN, CPU M- II.

INVENTOR. f/F/VEST h. WRIGHT,

WrW

ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 17, v 1931 UNITED STATES ERNEST WRIGHT, OF KANSAS CITY,MISSOURI MEAT CURE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME Applicationfiled December 9, 1927. Serial No. 238,995,

This invention relates to a method of manufacturing meat curingmaterials, and to the product resulting therefrom. For many years, ithas been recognized that meats cured by the smoke of certain of the hardwoods, such as hickory for example, have a very delightful flavor, andmeats cured by smoking in the manner indicated, have become a delicacy,and command a very high 10. price. However, the method of curing meatsby hanging them up in a smoke house and exposing them to wood smoke overa considerable period of time, is so slow and, consequently, soexpensive that ways have been eagerly sought for accomplishing substantially the same result in a more economical way. Having, upon oneoccasion, observed a drip from a stove pipe, burning hard wood, Iconceived the idea of condensing the gases driven ofi from hard wood,and of utilizing the resultant liquid in the curing of meats.

By the process of the present invent-ion I am able to conveniently andeconomically produce a meat cure which will impart to the meat the exactflavor of hard wood smoke.

Further, the process contemplates the elimination from the product ofundesirable elements, such as wood alcohol, carbon monoxids and carbondioxide. In addition, the

R0 process contemplates the dehydration of the liquid smoke hereinafterreferred to as the condensate. Among the advantages of dehydration maybementioned the fact that it is sometimes desired to mix the condensatewithmaterials of granularor crystal forma tion, such as salt, orsaltpeter, for example.

Byde-hydrating the condensate it is possible to mix the same with thecrystalline carrier,

without undue sogginess of the latter, such as would result from theintermixing with the carrier, of a water bearing condensate.

In carrying out the method ofv the present invention, I proceed asfollows, reference being had to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing.

A suitable hard wood, such as hickory for example, is charged into theretort 5, of a still, such as those commonly employed for thedestructive distillation of wood. At the beginning of the run, which isusually in the morning, the temperature'is maintained at from 100 to 160F. At these temperatures a very substantial part of the gases whichcontain wood alcohol, aredriven off. These gases .are permitted toescape from the systom through a pipe 6, leading to a barrel 7, thispipe being known as the retort drip. During the time that theselightervapors are being driven off, a valve 8, which'control's thecommunication of the interiorof the retort with the condenser 9 of thestill, is

kept closed, and thereafter said valve is opened and the vapors drivenoff from the wood, are permitted to' pass into the coils of thecondenser, which are kept cooled in any 765 suitable and conventionalway, such as by runn1ng water over them. The temperatureof the retortisraised as the run progresses, be-

ing gradually increased through the day to a maximum of about 900 F.This slow in crease in temperature results in driving off SIICGGSSlVGlYheavier fI'flCtlOIlS and all the fractions which pass through thecondenser, and which are condensed therein, are delivered to a suitablecontainer 10. A vent 11, at .75 the top of the condenser permits theescape of certain uncondensible and undesirable vapors, such as carbondioxide and carbon monoxide. It has beenfound that the materialdischarged'through theretort drip 6, at the so 7 beginning of the run,consists of'wood alco- 'l1ol,1light oils, and some pyroligneous acid,and that of this material substantially 18% is wood alcohol. Thus, itwill be seen thata very substantial proportion of this obj ectionableagent is gotten rid of by the simple expedient of discharging'thosefractions first released at relatively low temperatures, completely fromthe system, before permitting any of the vapors to pass into the condenser and before permitting any of the con densate to pass to'thecontainer 10.

l Vhile, for purposes of explanation, I have illustrated all'of theapparatus as being so connected as to' carry out the process in acontinuous manner, it isto be understood that this is not essential, butthat the'material delivered to the container 10 may be led (ii rectlytherefrom for further treatment, or may remainthere until needed, andmay be i taken therefrom, either through a pipe leading to some otherunit, or in manually handled containers, such as buckets or the like.However this transfer may be effected, the condensate is next deliveredfrom the container 10 to a conventional type of vacuum still 12, for thepurpose of dehydrating the same. The result of dehydrating is to veryconsiderably increase the degree of concentration of the condensate.Nhile the degree of concentration may be varied within wide ranges, Ihave, by dehydration, converted a quantity of the material having aspecific gravity of 1.013 to a very much heavier concentrate ofanhydrous residue comprising 47.75% of the original quantity. Thisdehydration may be accomplished by treatment of the condensate in thevacuum still for approximately 4 hours 19 minutes. at an average vacuumof 26.83 inches of mercury.

This condensate, while being of utility in conjunction with granular orcrystalline car riers, as afore stated, is also of utility for application as a liquid. It is clear that it may be painted upon the mealsto be flavored, with a brush, or that itmay be used in the brine orpickle in which meats are being cured. lVhen used in the latter fashion,it is clear that by reason of its concentration, due to dehydration. asmall quantity of the liquid smoke Will sufiiee to treat a largequantity of the brine or pickle. An additional advantage of thusconcentrating the liquid is, that shipping expenses are markedlyreduced. The user, if the material is to be applied with a brush, forexample, need only add a desired amount of liquid, such as water, to asmall amount of condensate, in order to have a much larger quantity ofliquid smoke ready for meat treatment. The removal of the water rendersit possible to thus mix the concentrated liquid with liquids other thanwater, having desirable flavoring characteristics, suitable for use inmeat treatment.

Having described my invention, What I claim is:

1. The herein described method of preparing a meat cure product, whichconsists of distilling hard wood at a temperature of from 100 to 160degrees F, discharging to the atmosphere the gases released at thesetemperatures, then gradually increasing the temperatures employed from160 degrees F. to a maximum of 900 degrees F., and condensing the gasesreleased at temperatures above160 degrees F.

2. The herein described method of-preparing a meat cure product, whichconsists of distilling hard. wood at a temperature of from 100 to 160degrees F., discharging to the atmosphere the gases released at thesetemperatures, then gradually increasing the temperatures employed from160 degrees F. to a maximum of 900 degrees F and condensing ERNEST H.lVRIGI-IT.

